Lawsuit Stalled

March 15, 1988|By Compiled from staff reports

POLICE FUND PROBE. A legal challenge by suspended Longwood Police Chief Greg Manning and another officer delayed a court hearing Monday on whether Longwood should make public its findings from an investigation of two police department funds. Manning and suspended Capt. Terry Baker obtained an order from the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach that requires a Seminole circuit judge to explain why he refused Monday morning to let the two participate in a lawsuit filed against the city by The Orlando Sentinel. The judge, Kenneth Leffler, had made a similar ruling by phone Thursday. The officers and city officials oppose releasing the investigative report, which led to the suspensions of Manning, Baker and administrative secretary Val Hockenberry on Feb. 22. Manning and Baker also have asked Leffler to disqualify himself from the case.